Criminal trial of two defendants accused of involuntary manslaughter continues

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Sam Maxwell, right, waits for caregiver Ernest Mena, left, to help him into the van after a swimming pool physical therapy session in Stockton, Calif., on Thursday, Nov. 30, 2017. Maxwell, 33, was the last person to make it out of Oakland’s Ghost Ship warehouse fire, but is recovering from extreme smoke inhalation and a series of complications that left him in a medically-induced coma for nearly five weeks. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)

Sam Maxwell at his home in Stockton, Calif., on Thursday, Nov. 30, 2017. Maxwell, 33, was the last person to make it out of Oakland’s Ghost Ship warehouse fire, but is recovering from extreme smoke inhalation and a series of complications that left him in a medically-induced coma for nearly five weeks. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)

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Sam Maxwell, left, finishes a physical therapy session with caregiver Ernest Mena, not pictured, as his father Bill Maxwell gets his wheelchair at their home in Stockton, Calif., on Thursday, Nov. 30, 2017. Maxwell, 33, was the last person to make it out of Oakland’s Ghost Ship warehouse fire, but is recovering from extreme smoke inhalation and a series of complications that left him in a medically-induced coma for nearly five weeks. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)

Sam Maxwell at his home in Stockton, Calif., on Thursday, Nov. 30, 2017. Maxwell, 33, was the last person to make it out of Oakland’s Ghost Ship warehouse fire, but is recovering from extreme smoke inhalation and a series of complications that left him in a medically-induced coma for nearly five weeks. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)

Sam Maxwell receives assistance from caregiver Ernest Mena, left, as his father Bill Maxwell, right, helps after a physical therapy session at Maxwell’s home in Stockton, Calif., on Thursday, Nov. 30, 2017. Maxwell, 33, was the last person to make it out of Oakland’s Ghost Ship warehouse fire, but is recovering from extreme smoke inhalation and a series of complications that left him in a medically-induced coma for nearly five weeks. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)

Sam Maxwell at his home in Stockton, Calif., on Thursday, Nov. 30, 2017. Maxwell, 33, was the last person to make it out of Oakland’s Ghost Ship warehouse fire, but is recovering from extreme smoke inhalation and a series of complications that left him in a medically-induced coma for nearly five weeks. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)

Sam Maxwell gets a hug from his mom Wendi Maxwell, left, at their home in Stockton, Calif., on Thursday, Nov. 30, 2017. Maxwell, 33, was the last person to make it out of Oakland’s Ghost Ship warehouse fire, but is recovering from extreme smoke inhalation and a series of complications that left him in a medically-induced coma for nearly five weeks. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)

Sam Maxwell, 32, of Oakland, is seen in an undated handout photo on Saturday, Jan. 14, 2017. Maxwell, 32, was the last person to make it out of the Ghost Ship warehouse fire in Oakland, but suffered extreme smoke inhalation and a series of complications that left him in a medically induced coma for nearly five weeks. (Courtesy of the Maxwell family)

Sam Maxwell, 32, of Oakland, is seen in an undated handout photo on Saturday, Jan. 14, 2017. Maxwell, 32, was the last person to make it out of the Ghost Ship warehouse fire in Oakland, but suffered extreme smoke inhalation and a series of complications that left him in a medically induced coma for nearly five weeks. (Courtesy of the Maxwell family)

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives continues their investigation into the cause of a three-alarm fire at a Fruitvale district warehouse known as the Ghost Ship in Oakland, Calif., on Friday, Dec. 9, 2016. 36 people died in the fire. (Anda Chu/Bay Area News Group)

OAKLAND — Sam Maxwell entered the courtroom Wednesday in a wheelchair, his right hand shaky as he raised it to be sworn in to testify in the Ghost Ship criminal trial.

Maxwell was one of the last people to escape the deadly blaze on Dec. 2, 2016, at the East Oakland warehouse known as the Ghost Ship. He was in a coma for five weeks and suffered from burns, heavy smoke inhalation including carbon monoxide poisoning and has irreversible brain damage.

“I thought I was going to burn alive on those stairs,” he said Wednesday in court. “It was scary.”

When deputy district attorney Autrey James asked him if he saw flames when going down the stairs, he said yes.

“I went through them,” he said.

Maxwell, who has difficulty speaking, answered questions from attorneys through a speech therapist/interpreter. He wore dark sunglasses through his testimony, and his hands and arms shook as he gestured through his responses.

He told the jury about how he had gone to the Ghost Ship that night to listen to music. On the second floor, the atmosphere was “festive” but suddenly, it got quieter. As quick as milk spilling, the flames appeared and people began fleeing, he said. Then, there was a bottleneck as people tried to escape down the stairs.

“I thought the flames were going to envelop me,” he said.

“I chose death on those stairs, (rather) than choosing an unknown risk,” he said.

He said people perished trying to escape by the back stairs. He got out using the front stairs, which he also described as “poorly constructed” and dangerous.

In testimony, he described how after he escaped the flames and the burning warehouse, he went to a nearby liquor store and asked for burn cream. They didn’t have any, so he bought a bottle of water. The next thing he remembers is being taken to Highland Hospital. Maxwell also has damage to his hands and feet.

He testified that it was defendant Max Harris who took his $5 cover charge at the door, but admitted in cross-examination with Harris’ attorney Curtis Briggs that he didn’t know who Harris was that night. He recognized him later from news reports after the fire.

Harris and Derick Almena are each charged with 36 counts of involuntary manslaughter each for the deadly blaze that took the lives of 36 people on Dec. 2, 2016.

Outside the presence of the jury Wednesday morning, defense attorneys questioned if Maxwell should be allowed to testify at all. Tony Serra, attorney for Almena, said Maxwell was hard to understand, his voice hollow. Briggs said it would be extremely difficult for the jury to see Maxwell in his condition.

Prosecutors argued his testimony would help provide evidence of negligence on the part of the two defendants. They also pointed out that Maxwell was only one of three known people who survived the fire by escaping from the second floor.

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